The Shards (35 page)

“How am I to know, Elion. But can we take the chance without knowing for certain?” Tomas asked.

“How badly do you need to speak with Davmiran?” Elion inquired.

“The need is dire,” he replied.

“Then what other choices do we have? The risk is greater for us all if Caeltin is able to eavesdrop upon you. If we feel that the place is unsafe for us, we will leave at once. Let us venture in carefully and not too deeply.”

“Or if another whose allegiance we cannot vouch for interferes,” Tomas said with a strange look in his eyes.

“One of the Possessed, you mean?” Elion asked, confused by the boy’s use of words and his lack of specificity.

“Perhaps,” Tomas replied, though it was clear from his response that the Possessed were not the ones he now feared.

“Who else did you have in mind, Tomas?” the elf asked.

“There are many now whom we can no longer trust. The Dark Lord’s reach has grown longer of late, and he has touched and befouled some of those whose fealty we never questioned before. It is hard to determine exactly where the enemy lurks,” the boy said ominously.

“Even in Avalain?” Elion asked, surprised.

Tomas looked intensely into Elion’s eyes. There was a sad and worried expression upon his face that deeply disturbed him, and that made the boy look many tiels older than he was.

“Few allegiances cannot be sundered by his evil,” Tomas replied. “It is best that we trust as few as possible.”

“If you suspect something or someone, please share your concerns with me. I cannot help you if I am kept in the dark,” Elion said.

“I have no one specific in mind,” the boy replied. “I just think that we should be more careful now than ever before. The influence of the trees is waning and we must be prudent. The Lalas have concerns of their own, and ours and theirs may no longer always be parallel. I sense a great darkness encroaching.…”

“Darkness? You frighten me sometime, Tomas. Was I not the one to begin this conversation by advising you that we should watch our backs? How long have you felt this way?”

“Since the day you carried me into the cave. The feeling has never fully left me.”

“More the reason we should seek the shelter of the Winding Woods. It is as independent as any place on earth.,” Elion replied.

“Do you know where the entrance is?” Tomas asked.

“Yes,” Elion nodded. “I believe that I do. It will take us some time to get there though. We have to cross through Chilmark first.”

“Is that a problem?” Tomas questioned.

“It should not be. The plains are usually safe, although these days, nothing is for certain any longer.”

“How long will it take us to get to the woods?”

“If we ride fast and do not stop on the way, it should not take us more than three hours or so. That should leave you enough time to do what you need to do, and we can still be back by nightfall. Six hours round trip traveling time and an hour for you and your brother sounds about right.”

“I cannot imagine needing more time once we arrive. That is, as long as nothing unforeseen delays us,” Tomas replied.

“Do you sense something?” Elion asked apprehensively.

“No. I do not. But as you said before, things these days are unpredictable. I hope the woods welcome us.”

“Unless the trees therein have been unduly influenced since Filaree was last there, they will not refuse us,” Elion said with confidence.

“I have no doubt that they will allow us to enter. But, will they also allow us to leave?” Tomas inquired.

“We will soon find out, Tomas,” the elfin Prince replied.

“The sooner the better then. The ring is burning a hole in my chest, Elion.”

Tomas grabbed a cloak from a peg on the wall and tossed it over his shoulders.

“Let us go,” the elf said, and he led Tomas out the door.

They walked down the wide hallway to the staircase at its end. It wound down a number of flights and then opened up into a common room on the ground level of the castle. A few people were milling about, but no one that they recognized. Together, they crossed the broad floor and exited through a doorway onto the courtyard. The palace stables were close by, and in minutes they were saddling up their horses for the journey to the Winding Woods. Tomas paused for a moment, reached inside his tunic and then clasped the ring tightly in his palm. He closed his eyes and allowed the warmth it generated to permeate his entire body. Just as suddenly, he released the delicate silver band and climbed into his saddle.

“Are you ready, Elion?” he asked his companion.

“Are you, Tomas?” the elf replied, and the boy nodded. “Good. I needed to know that.”

“This meeting has been long overdue and many times postponed. It has never felt right. Now the moment is upon us and I yearn for it so,” he confessed.

“May the First guide us and protect us,” Elion said, and they both spurred their mounts onward.

Tomas said something in response, but his words were lost in the rush of the wind as they sped out the stable doors and across the cobbled streets of Avalain.

Chapter Thirty-four

The thick woods gave way to scrub and brush, which made it difficult for them to conceal their whereabouts from anyone or anything that might have been passing overhead. But, the flat terrain and lack of physical obstructions were more conducive to swift travel than the dense and tangled forest from which they recently emerged. The sky was streaked with grey clouds that pulsed with an odd lightning unaccompanied by the thunder claps of natural storms. There was a heaviness to the air that they could not attribute to the intense humidity alone. It seemed more tangible than mere moisture, and far more menacing. The group of four led their horses carefully and determinedly across the plains, in the direction of Sedahar.

“Did you see that, Teetoo?” Giles pointed overhead.

“Long before you did, I suspect,” the Weloh replied.

“What do you think it was?” Clovis inquired.

“I am uncertain. But, you can be sure that whatever travels here uncloaked does so only with the Dark Lord’s consent,” Teetoo said.

“Except for us,” Giles said.

“Yes, except for us,” Teetoo concurred.

“I feel so exposed. How are we to maintain the secrecy of our arrival if we have to travel so openly?” Alemar asked.

“I am not leading you totally unprotected into the jaws of evil, Princess. It seems that Premoran’s gift to me has powers beyond those of communication,” Teetoo explained, and he revealed the brightly glowing bracelet on his wrist. “I believe that this is masking us somewhat. Have you not noticed that what little life we have encountered since we left the forest has barely been aware of our passage here?”

“I did, actually, Teetoo. But I paid it little mind. I assumed that these creatures were simply unafraid or unconcerned,” Alemar replied.

“I found it strange that they allowed themselves to be nearly trod upon!” Clovis remarked.

“Inured to the realities of Sedahar?” Teetoo commented.

“Maybe,” Clovis said. “One would still think that life had meaning for them.”

“Here, just the opposite is the case,” Teetoo said ominously.

“Are you saying the he and his spies cannot see us nor sense our presence?” Alemar asked.

“To an extent, yes. If he suspected our arrival, others more astute would be searching. He cannot see us because he is not looking.”

“And if he was?” Giles asked.

“Need I answer that?” Teetoo replied.

“How long do you suspect we will be able to proceed in this way?” Alemar asked.

“As long as the bracelet’s power conceals us,” the Weloh answered. “Do you have the map, Princess?”

They could see a structure towering in the distance but no matter how hard they tried to focus their eyes upon it, it remained blurred and nondescript. Even the incredibly sharp eyes of the Weloh could not pierce the obfuscation. She withdrew the rolled parchment from her knapsack and handed it to Teetoo. Giles and Clovis flanked Alemar protectively.

“Do not expect things here to be as they appear elsewhere,” Teetoo warned them as he unfolded the thin parchment. “Most is artifice and sham. The truth is hard to glean from deception.”

They all felt quite vulnerable as they marched across the plain, but other than the clouds that streaked quickly overhead and the scurrying of an occasional small animal, nothing else moved.

“As I had hoped, his eyes are elsewhere,” Teetoo commented. “One as arrogant as Colton would not feel as if he needed to guard his own home. But we still must locate the entrance.”

“Let’s hope that the eyes of his generals are elsewhere as well,” Clovis said.

“Generals?” Teetoo questioned. “He has no generals. None save the Dark Lord himself wield power in his realm.”

“What of the Possessed?” Alemar asked.

“Outside of Sedahar they can exert themselves. Within the boundaries of this horrid place, no power is effective except his own unless he so wills it,” the Weloh replied.

“Lucky for us, I guess,” Giles said.

Alemar spurred her mount forward and left the custody of her friends in order to ride beside Teetoo for a while.

“Can it be…” she asked, “…that he has left Premoran unguarded?”

“Anything is possible, Princess. We will not know how he keeps him captive until the moment we find him. What we do know is that he is alive and that he is a prisoner.”

“It is hard to imagine that a Lalas once grew somewhere near here. It all looks so hopeless.”

“And when one dies, what emotions are evoked?” Teetoo asked.

“Hopelessness,” Alemar replied immediately. “Does that mean we are nearing where it once was?”

“Perhaps, Princess. All here is hopeless beyond measure. We must examine the map closely for the signs if we are to find the opening,” Teetoo said and he turned his sharp eyes upon the ancient map. “There are symbols of power upon it. We will not be able to find anything that remains from before, so we must find the locus of this power if we wish to find the entrance.”

“Do you think that Premoran can sense the bracelet that you wear?”

“I do not know, Alemar. If he can, then he will know already that we approach. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot determine.”

“Hush, you two!” Clovis admonished them as he rode to catch up. “Something is afoot. I see movement ahead.”

An eddy of dust rose in the distance and they all stopped advancing in order to try and determine its origin.

“Another!” Teetoo pointed to the left of the first one they spotted.

“And yet another!” Alemar remarked.

“What are they?” Giles asked.

They stared at the puffs and swirls, and before their very eyes the shapeless mists began to coagulate into hideous forms.

“What do you see?” Teetoo asked Alemar in a strange tone of voice.

The Princess stared ahead and tears flooded her eyes.

“I see my brother,” she replied. “He is in agony. I must help him!”

“And you, Clovis? What do you see there ahead?” and he pointed to the same swirling fog that Alemar had just described.

“My mother! She crying out to me. Can you not hear her too? She calls my name,” he said pleadingly.

Alemar restrained him with her hand as she quickly realized that it was a chimera that she saw. Kalon was dead. She forced the sorrow away and focused upon her companions.

“Hold, Clovis. Abide with me. What you see is not real,” she reassured him.

While she comforted Clovis, Giles leapt forward on his horse before she had a chance to detain him.

“Ariel? Is that you?” Giles asked as he swiftly broke away from the group. “Can it be you?”

“Stop, Giles!” Teetoo ordered him while reaching out with lightning speed and grasping the reins of his horse out of his hands.

“I must go to her! She needs me!” he replied and he tried to snap the leather straps away from the Weloh.

“It is illusion, Giles. There is nothing there! Take hold of yourself!” Teetoo said. “All of you! Listen to me! We have crossed into Sedahar. Nothing is real. Come closer to me!” Teetoo ordered them and he raised both of his graceful arms. “Take hold of me. Touch me!” he instructed them. “The power of the bracelet will help you to see through this deception.”

Alemar was the first to obey. She sidled up next to the Weloh and placed her palm atop his right forearm.

“Dust!” she exclaimed. “It is no more than a cloud of dust!”

Clovis followed suit immediately after and he too took hold of Teetoo’s extended arm, but Giles was too captivated by the semblance of his young lover to break free of the compelling urge to touch her. He walked forward in a daze.

“Giles, no!” Alemar shouted.

He turned his face to the Princess briefly, but the look upon it was confused and uncomprehending.

“She is dead, Giles!” Clovis yelled. “It is not Ariel that you see!”

“Ariel?” Giles said again, and he ignored his friends. “I am coming, Ariel.”

“Stop, Giles! Stop!” Alemar screamed.

Giles turned toward her quickly, and she saw in his eyes that he was totally lost. Without hesitating any further, she leapt forward, letting go of Teetoo’s arm. Images of painful and hurtful things appeared everywhere. Long lost friends, dead relatives and sorrowful visions began to form in the inky mists that swirled all around, but she ignored them. With determination, she reached her friend’s side, and then she quickly and tenderly took his hand in her own.

“Come, Giles. What you see is untrue. You must ignore it. Ariel is dead, Giles. She cannot be here!” Alemar said.

“Ariel? But she is there right in front of us. You see her too, don’t you? Tell me you see her too!” he pleaded.

“I see only evil and delusion, Giles,” the Princess said, as she stroked his arm.

While Alemar was gently guiding Giles away from this vile seduction, Teetoo and Clovis joined them.

“What you long for the most and can never have is what Colton wishes you to see. That is what Sedahar is about, Giles; longing and pain, illusion and disappointment,” Teetoo said. “And cruelty!”

“Come, friend!” Clovis said. “Ariel was a good and loving woman, but she is gone, Giles. What you see here will only rekindle the fire that burns your soul still.”

Giles shook his head back and forth as if he was trying to clear it.

“Concentrate, Giles. See this place for what it really is,” Alemar said.

Looking distraught and confused, he rubbed his eyes hard with the knuckles of his hands and squinted at the images before him.

“Ariel?” he said once more with a heavy heart, but even as he did so, the illusion began to fade away. He looked at the others standing beside him, and he smiled the half smile of a realization reaffirmed. “I thought for a moment it was really her,” he said dolefully. “Stupid me,” he said, and the others sighed with relief.

“The power here is strong, and your love for her must also have been exceedingly strong. Do not fault yourself. Had your love not been true, these visions would not be haunting you,” Teetoo said. “Come now. We must continue on. Though the bracelet may conceal our movements, it obviously cannot protect us from the traps that death and yearning have prepared for us.”

They walked through the visions of pain and suffering, across the barren plain that sustained no life; a precursor to dissolution. Their heads hung low from the weight of the emptiness that surrounded them. In the distance, the tower of Sedahar loomed, but it was still blurred and indistinct. The sky flickered and pulsed with errant energy. The air was odorless, and no matter how deeply they breathed it in, it did not refresh them nor satisfy their need. They found themselves constantly gasping for more. It seemed almost as if they had entered a tomb that had never been breached before, and they felt as if they were being violated with each step that they took.

“What shall we do with the horses?” Clovis asked. “We cannot leave them outside once we find the entrance,” he said.

“What choice have we?” Giles asked. “They can forage here whilst we find Premoran.”

“There is nothing here for them to forage,” Teetoo commented. “We must direct them back toward the woods.”

“They will understand,” Alemar said. “I will send them on their way when the time comes.”

“How will we return then if they are not here for us when we come back?” Giles questioned. “After we free the old man it will be hard for us to hide.”

“They will not survive here anyway even if we bade them stay. Besides, once we have left them, the bracelet will no longer keep their presence secret. Not only will they give us away if they remain outside the gates, but they will surely meet an even swifter demise,” Teetoo said.

“Their chances are best if we let them try to return to the forest,” Alemar agreed.

“We are almost there. Do you see the symbol glowing more brightly?” the Weloh asked, and he held the map up before them.

They all looked ahead at the massive white tower that still seemed so unclear and ill-defined. It seemed enormous, far larger than they had ever imagined, and it looked so impregnable and daunting from their vantage point. The walls were sheer and smooth, and no windows interrupted the imposing surfaces. It was a forbidding place and it nearly sucked what little breath they still had remaining within them out of their tired lungs.

“Over there!” Teetoo shouted. “There is a mark upon the ground,” he said, while pointing to the right of them. He folded the parchment and carefully put it inside the folds of his clothing. “We will need this once we descend,” he said to Alemar.

She nodded to him and strained her eyes in order to see what he was referring to.

“The place that is not blurry? Yes, I see it. It is all that I can see clearly,” Alemar said.

“Follow me,” Teetoo instructed them, and he dismounted from his horse. “Send them away now, Princess. Firstspeed!” Teetoo said as he handed his reins to Alemar who had already slid gracefully from her saddle.

Alemar spoke into the ear of her horse and it whinnied in response. She removed its bridle and saddle and motioned to the others to do the same. Then she carefully took them from Teetoo’s mount as well.

“Bury these as best you can,” she said to Giles and Clovis.

She whispered to each of the animals. They looked as if they understood while pawing the ground expectantly.

“Go now!” she said aloud. “Stop for no one or nothing!”

The horses bolted off in the direction that they had come, raising clouds of dust and debris behind them as they ran.

“Will they be safe?” she asked Teetoo.

“We can only hope,” the Weloh replied. “But we have no time to worry about them now. That is most definitely the entrance,” he said as he pointed ahead. “Follow me quickly. If the horses are noticed, it will not be hard to trace their movements back to us.”

They all ran behind Teetoo for the one patch of clarity that distinguished itself in the distance, as the sky above churned and seethed violently. They could see the hole in the surface of the earth. It was difficult to tell which seemed more menacing to them; the tower of Sedahar or the passage that led beneath it.

“Brace yourselves!” he warned as they approached. “The instant you step down into one of the Forbidden Places you will feel like you have never felt before! Are you ready?” he asked.